Brussels, June 16, 2026
Photo: tass.ru
The European Union has sanctioned His Eminence Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Simferopol and Crimea as part of a new package of restrictive measures against Russia, according to an official EU document published yesterday.
The EU’s listing, made under his secular name Georgiy Shevkunov, states that he “plays an active role in spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation aimed at justifying Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.” The bloc accuses him of systematically spreading “pro-Kremlin disinformation, including claims of ‘Nazism’ in Ukraine,” denying Ukraine’s sovereignty, and justifying Russia’s invasion as “necessary, defensive and divinely sanctioned.”
The EU further states that “through sermons, media platforms, state-funded cultural projects, and direct fundraising for Russian troops in occupied Crimea, he promotes and enables Russia’s military actions.”
On that basis, Brussels concluded that he “is implementing and supporting actions and policies attributable to the Government of the Russian Federation, which undermine or threaten democracy, the rule of law, stability and security in the Union and a third country (Ukraine), with coordinated information manipulation and interference, and through supporting a violent conflict in the third country (Ukraine).”
Met. Tikhon, author of the beloved Everyday Saints, is among a broader group of individuals and organizations listed in the new round of EU sanctions, which also targets several Russian state-linked companies and officials.
The move comes amid broader EU efforts to expand its sanctions regime in relation to the war in Ukraine. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has also been proposed for EU sanctions, though the bloc has not yet imposed them.
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